Holding these two Pieces well together, and giving the King'sfaithfully translated, in a complete state, it will be possible tosatisfy foolish cravings, and make this Strasburg Adventureluminous enough.

KING FRIEDRICH TO VOLTAIRE (from Wesel, 2d September, 1740), CHIEFLY IN DOGGEREL, CONCERNING THE RUN TO STRASBURG.Part of it, incorrect, in Voltaire, OEuvres (scandalous Piece now called Memoires, once Vie Privee du Roi de Prusse ), ii. 24-26;finally, in Preuss, OEuvres de Frederic, xiv. 156-161, the real and complete affair, as fished up byvictorious Preuss and others.

"I have just finished a Journey, intermingled with singularadventures, sometimes pleasant, sometimes the reverse. You know Ihad set out for Baireuth,"--BRUXELLES the beautiful French Editorwrote, which makes Egyptian darkness of the Piece!--"to see aSister whom I love no less than esteem. On the road [thither orthence; or likeliest, THERE], Algarotti and I consulted the map,to settle our route for returning by Wesel. Frankfurt-on-Mayncomes always as a principal stage;--Strasburg was no greatroundabout: we chose that route in preference. The INCOGNITO wasdecided, names pitched upon [Comte Dufour, and the others];story we were to tell: in fine, all was arranged and concerted toa nicety as well as possible. We fancied we should get toStrasburg in three days [from Baireuth].

But Heaven, which disposes of all things,Differently regulated this thing.With lank-sided coursers,Lineal descendants from Rosinante,With ploughmen in the dress of postilions,Blockheads of impertinent nature;Our carriages sticking fast a hundred times in the road,We went along with gravity at a leisurely pace,Knocking against the crags.The atmosphere in uproar with loud thunder,The rain-torrents streaming over the EarthThreatened mankind with the Day of Judgment [VERY BAD WEATHER],And in spite of our impatience,Four good days are, in penance,Lost forever in these jumblings.

"Had all our fatalities been limited to stoppages of speed on thejourney, we should have taken patience; but, after frightfulroads, we found lodgings still frightfuler.

For greedy landlordsSeeing us pressed by hungerDid, in a more than frugal manner,In their infernal hovels,Poisoning instead of feeding,Steal from us our crowns.O age different [in good cheer] from that of Lucullus!

"Frightful roads; short of victual, short of drink: nor was thatall. We had to undergo a variety of accidents; and certainly ourequipage must have had a singular air, for in every new place wecame to, they took us for something different.

Some took us for Kings,Some for pickpockets well disguised;Others for old acquaintances.At times the people crowded out,Looked us in the eyes,Like clowns impertinently curious.Our lively Italian [Algarotti] swore;For myself I took patience;The young Count [my gay younger Brother, eighteen at present] quizzed and frolicked;The big Count [Heir-apparent of Dessau] silently swung his head,Wishing this fine Journey to France,In the bottom of his heart, most christianly at the Devil.

You recognize Kehl in this description. It was in that fineFortress,--where, by the way, the breaches are still lyingunrepaired [Reich being a slow corpus in regard to such things],--that the Postmaster, a man of more foresight than we, askedIf we had got passports?

No, said I to him; of passportsWe never had the whim.Strong ones I believe it would needTo recall, to our side of the limit,Subjects of Pluto King of the Dead:But, from the Germanic EmpireInto the gallant and cynical abodeOf Messieurs your pretty Frenchmen,--A jolly and beaming air,Rubicund faces, not ignorant of wine,These are the passports which, legible if you look on us,Our troop produces to you for that end.

"No, Messieurs, said the provident Master of Passports;no salvation without passport. Seeing then that Necessityhad got us in the dilemma of either manufacturing passportsourselves or not entering Strasburg, we took the former branchof the alternative and manufactured one;--in which feat, thePrussian arms, which I had on my seal, were marvellouslyfurthersome."

This is a fact, as the old Newspapers and confirmatory Fassmannmore directly apprise us. "The Landlord [or Postmaster] at Kehl,having signified that there was no crossing without Passport,"Friedrich, at first, somewhat taken aback, bethought him of hiswatch-seal with the Royal Arms on it; and soon manufactured thenecessary Passport, signeted in due form;--which, however, gave asuspicion to the Innkeeper as to the quality of his Guest.After which, Tuesday evening, 23d August, "they at once got acrossto Strasburg," says my Newspaper Friend, "and put up at the SIGNOF THE RAVEN, there." Or in Friedrich's own jingle:--

"We arrived at Strasburg; and the Custom-house corsair, with hisinspectors, seemed content with our evidences.

These scoundrels spied us,With one eye reading our passport,With the other ogling our purse.Gold, which was always a resource,Which brought, Jove to the enjoymentOf Danae whom he caressed;Gold, by which Caesar governedThe world happy under his sway;Gold, more a divinity than Mars or Love;Wonder-working Gold introduced usThat evening, within the walls of Strasburg."[Given thus far, with several slight errors, in Voltaire, ii.24-26;--the remainder, long unknown, had to be fished up, patch bypatch (Preuss, OEuvres de Frederic, xiv.159-161).]

Sad doggerel; permissible perhaps as a sample of the Friedrichmanufacture, surely not otherwise! There remains yet more thanhalf of it; readers see what their foolish craving has broughtupon them! Doggerel out of which no clear story, such story asthere is, can be had; though, except the exaggeration andcontortion, there is nothing of fiction in it. We fly to theNewspaper, happily at least a prose composition, which begins atthis point; and shall use the Doggerel henceforth as illustrationonly or as repetition in the Friedrich-mirror, of a thingOTHERWISE made clear to us:--

Having got into Strasburg and the RAVEN HOTEL; Friedrich now onFrench ground at last, or at least on Half-French, German-French,is intent to make the most of circumstances. The Landlord, withone of Friedrich's servants, is straightway despatched into theproper coffee-houses to raise a supper-party of Officers; politelyasks any likely Officer, "If he will not do a foreign Gentleman[seemingly of some distinction, signifies Boniface] the honor tosup with him at the Raven?"--"No, by Jupiter!" answer the most, intheir various dialects: "who is he that we should sup with him?"Three, struck by the singularity of the thing, undertake; and withthese we must be content. Friedrich--or call him M. le ComteDufour, with Pfuhl, Schaffgotsch and such escort as we see--politely apologizes on the entrance of these officers:"Many pardons, gentlemen, and many thanks. Knowing nobody;desirous of acquaintance:--since you are so good, how happy, by alittle informality, to have brought brave Officers to keep mecompany, whom I value beyond other kinds of men!"

The Officers found their host a most engaging gentleman:his supper was superb, plenty of wine, "and one red kind they hadnever tasted before, and liked extremely;"--of which he sent somebottles to their lodging next day. The conversation turned onmilitary matters, and was enlivened with the due sallies.This foreign Count speaks French wonderfully; a brilliant man,whom the others rather fear: perhaps something more than a Count?The Officers, loath to go, remembered that their two battalionshad to parade next morning, that it was time to be in bed: "I willgo to your review," said the Stranger Count: the delightedOfficers undertake to come and fetch him, they settle with himtime and method; how happy!

On the morrow, accordingly, they call and fetch him; he looks atthe review; review done, they ask him to supper for this evening:"With pleasure!" and "walks with them about the Esplanade, to seethe guard march by." Before parting, he takes their names, writesthem in his tablets; says, with a smile, "He is too much obligedever to forget them." This is Wednesday, the 24th of August, 1740;Field-Marshal Broglio is Commandant in Strasburg, and theseobliging Officers are "of the regiment Piedmont,"--their names onthe King's tablets I never heard mentioned by anybody (or nevertill the King's Doggerel was fished up again). Field-MarshalBroglio my readers have transiently seen, afar off;--"gallopingwith only one boot," some say "almost in his shirt," at the Fordof Secchia, in those Italian campaigns, five years ago, theAustrians having stolen across upon him:--he had a furious gallop,with no end of ridicule, on that occasion; is now Commandant here;and we shall have a great deal more to do with him within the nextyear or two.

"This same day, 24th, while I [the Newspaper volunteer Reporter orOwn Correspondent, seemingly a person of some standing, whosewords carry credibility in the tone of them] was with Field-Marshal Broglio our Governor here, there came two gentlemen to bepresented to him; 'German Cavaliers' they were called; who, I nowfind, must have been the Prince of Prussia and Algarotti.The Field-Marshal,"--a rather high-stalking white-headed oldmilitary gentleman, bordering on seventy, of Piedmontese air andbreed, apt to be sudden and make flounderings, but the soul ofhonor, "was very polite to the two Cavaliers, and kept them todinner. After dinner there came a so-styled 'Silesian Nobleman,'who likewise was presented to the Field-Marshal, and affected notto know the other two: him I now find to have been the Princeof Anhalt."

Of his Majesty's supper with the Officers that Wednesday, we areleft to think how brilliant it was: his Majesty, we hear farther,went to the Opera that night,--the Polichinello or whatever the"Italian COMODIE" was;--"and a little girl came to his box withtwo lottery-tickets fifteen pence each, begging the foreignGentleman for the love of Heaven to buy them of her; which he did,tearing them up at once, and giving the poor creature fourducats," equivalent to two guineas, or say in effect even fivepounds of the present British currency. The fame of this foreignCount and his party at The Raven is becoming very loud overStrasburg, especially in military circles. Our volunteer OwnCorrespondent proceeds (whom we mean to contrast with the RoyalDoggerel by and by):--

"Next morning," Thursday, 25th August, "as the Marshal with abovetwo hundred Officers was out walking on the Esplanade, there camea soldier of the Regiment Luxemburg, who, after some stiff fuglingmotions, of the nature of salutation partly, and partly demand forprivacy, intimated to the Marshal surprising news: That theStranger in The Raven was the King of Prussia in person; he, thesoldier, at present of the Regiment Luxemburg, had in other days,before he deserted, been of the Prussian Crown-Prince's regiment;had consequently seen him in Berlin, Potsdam and elsewhere athousand times and more, and even stood sentry where he was:the fact is beyond dispute, your Excellency! said thissoldier."--Whew!

Whereupon a certain Colonel, Marquis de Loigle, with or without ahint from Broglio, makes off for The Raven; introduces himself, aswas easy; contrives to get invited to stay dinner, which also waseasy. During dinner the foreign Gentleman expressed some wish tosee their fortress. Colonel Loigle sends word to Broglio;Broglio despatches straightway an Officer and fine carriage:"Will the foreign Gentleman do me the honor?" The foreignGentleman, still struggling for incognito, declines the uppermostseat of honor in the carriage; the two Officers, Loigle and thisnew one, insist on taking the inferior place. Alas, the incognitois pretty much out. Calling at some coffee-house or the like onthe road, a certain female, "Madame de Fienne," named the foreignGentleman "Sire,"--which so startled him that, though he utterlydeclined such title, the two Officers saw well how it was.

"After survey of the works, the two attendant Officers hadreturned to the Field-Marshal; and about 4 P.M. the high Strangermade appearance there. But the thing had now got wind, 'King ofPrussia here incognito!' The place was full of Officers, who camecrowding about him: he escaped deftly into the Marechal's ownCabinet; sat there, an hour, talking to the Marechal [littleadmiring the Marechal's talk, as we shall find], still insistingon the incognito,"--to which Broglio, put out in his high paces bythis sudden thing, and apt to flounder, as I have heard, was notpolite enough to conform altogether. "What shall I do, in thissudden case?" poor Broglio is thinking to himself: "must write toCourt; perhaps try to detain--?" Friedrioh's chief thoughtnaturally is, One cannot be away out of this too soon. "Sha'n't wego to the Play, then, Monsieur le Marechal? Play-hour is come!"--Own Correspondent of the Newspaper proceeds:--

"The Marechal then went to the Play, and all his Officers withhim; thinking their royal prize was close at their heels.Marechal and Officers fairly ahead, coast once clear, their royalprize hastened back to The Raven, paid his bill; hastily summoningSchaffgotsch and the others within hearing; shot off likelightning; and was seen in Strasburg no more. Algarotti, who wasin the box with Broglio, heard the news in the house; regretfulrumor among the Officers, 'He is gone!' In about a quarter of anhour Algarotti too slipped out; and vanished by extra post"--straight towards Wesel; but could not overtake the King (whoseroad, in the latter part of it, went zigzag, on business as islikely), nor see him again till they met in that Town.[From Helden-Geschichte (i. 420-424), &c.]

This is the Prose Truth of those fifty or eight-and-forty hours inStrasburg, which were so mythic and romantic at that time.Shall we now apply to the Royal Doggerel again, where we left off,and see the other side of the picture? Once settled in The Raven,within Strasburg's walls, the Doggerel continues:--

"You fancy well that there was now something to exercise mycuriosity; and what desire I had to know the French Nation inFrance itself.

There I saw at length those French,Of whom you have sung the glories;A people despised by the English,Whom their sad rationality fills with black bile;Those French, whom our GermansReckon all to be destitute of sense;Those French, whose History consists of Love-stories,I mean the wandering kind of Love, not the constant;Foolish this People, headlong, high-going,Which sings beyond endurance;Lofty in its good fortune, crawling in its bad;Of an unpitying extent of babble,To hide the vacancy of its ignorant mind.Of the Trifling it is a tender lover;The Trifling alone takes possession of its brain.People flighty, indiscreet, imprudent,Turning like the weathercock to every wind.Of the ages of the Caesars those of the Louises are the shadow;Paris is the ghost, of Rome, take it how you will.No, of those vile French you are not one:You think; they do not think at all.

"Pardon, dear Voltaire, this definition of the French; at worst,it is only of those in Strasburg I speak. To scrape acquaintance,I had to invite some Officers on our arrival, whom of course I didnot know.

Three of them came at once,Gayer, more content than Kings;Singing with rusty voice.In verse, their amorous exploits,Set to a hornpipe.

"M. de la Crochardiere and M. Malosa [two names from the tablets,third wanting] had just come from a dinner where the wine had notbeen spared.

Of their hot friendship I saw the flame grow,The Universe would have taken us for perfect friends:But the instant of good-night blew out the business;Friendship disappeared without regrets,With the games, the wine, the table and the viands.

"Next day, Monsieur the Gouverneur of the Town and Province,Marechal of France, Chevalier of the Orders of the King, &c. &c.,--Marechal Duc de Broglio, in fact," who was surprised at Secchiain the late War,--

This General always surprised.Whom with regret, young Louis [your King]Saw without breeches in Italy["With only one boot," was the milder rumor; which we adopted(supra, vol. vi. p. 472), but this sadder one, too, was current;and "Broglio's breeches," or the vain aspiration after them, likea vanished ghost of breeches, often enough turn up in theold Pamphlets.]Galloping to hide away his lifeFrom the Germans, unpolite fighters;--

this General wished to investigate your Comte Dufour,--foreignCount, who the instant he arrives sets about inviting people tosupper that are perfect strangers. He took the poor Count for asharper; and prudently advised M. de la Crochardiere not to beduped by him. It was unluckily the good Marechal that proved tobe duped.

He was born for surprise.His white hair, his gray beard,Formed a reverend exterior.Outsides are often deceptive:He that, by the binding, judgesOf a Book and its AuthorMay, after a page of reading,Chance to recognize his mistake.

"That was my own experience; for of wisdom I could find nothingexcept in his gray hair and decrepit appearance. His first openingbetrayed him; no great well of wit this Marechal,

Who, drunk with his own grandeur,Informs you of his name and his titles,And authority as good as unlimited.He cited to me all the recordsWhere his name is registered,Babbled about his immense power,About his valor, his talentsSo salutary to France;--He forgot that, three years ago[Six to a nearness,--"15th September, 1734," if your Majesty willbe exact.]Men did not praise his prudence.

By these Frenchmen, burning with glory,Who, on four sous a day,Will make of Kings and of Heroes the memory flourish:Slaves crowned by the hands of Victory,Unlucky herds whom the CourtTinkles hither and thither by the sound of fife and drum.

Well; we must take this glimpse, such as it is, into the interiorof the young man,--fine buoyant, pungent German spirit, roadwaysfor it very bad, and universal rain-torrents falling, yet withcoruscations from a higher quarter;--and you can forget, if needbe, the "Literature" of this young Majesty, as you would astaccato on the flute by him! In after months, on new occasionrising, "there was no end to his gibings and bitter pleasantrieson the ridiculous reception Broglio had given him at Strasburg,"says Valori, [ Memoires, i. 88.]--of whichthis Doggerel itself offers specimen.

"Probably the weakest Piece I ever translated?" exclaims one, whohas translated several such. Nevertheless there is a straggle ofpungent sense in it,--like the outskirts of lightning, seen inthat dismally wet weather, which the Royal Party had. Its wit isvery copious, but slashy, bantery, and proceeds mainly byexaggeration and turning topsy-turvy; a rather barren species ofwit. Of humor, in the fine poetic sense, no vestige. But there issurprising veracity,--truthfulness unimpeachable, if you will readwell. What promptitude, too;--what funds for conversation, whenneeded! This scraggy Piece, which is better than the things peopleoften talk to one another, was evidently written as fast as thepen could go.--"It is done, if such a Hand could have DONE it, inthe manner of Bachaumont and La Chapelle," says Voltairescornfully, in that scandalous VIE PRIVEE;--of which phrase thisis the commentary, if readers need one:--

"Some seventy or eighty years before that date, a M. Bachaumontand a M. la Chapelle, his intimate, published, in Prose skippingoff into dancings of Verse every now and then, 'a charmingRELATION of a certain VOYAGE or Home Tour' (whence or whither, orcorrectly when, this Editor forgets), ["First printed in 1665,"say the Bibliographies; "but known to La Fontaine some timebefore." Good!--Bachaumont, practically an important anddistinguished person, not literary by trade, or indeed otherwisethan by ennui, was he that had given (some fifteen years before)the Nickname FRONDE (Bickering of Schoolboys) to the wretchedHistorical Object which is still so designated in French annals.]which they had made in partnership. 'RELATION' capable still ofbeing read, if one were tolerably idle;--it was found then to becharming, by all the world; and gave rise to a new fashion inwriting; which Voltaire often adopts, and is supremely good at;and in which Friedrich, who is also fond of it, by no meanssucceeds so well."

Enough, Friedrich got to Wesel, back to his business, in a day ortwo; and had done, as we forever have, with the Strasburg Escapadeand its Doggerel.

FRIEDRICH FINDS M. DE MAUPERTUIS; NOT YET M. DE VOLTAIRE.

Friedrich got to Wesel on the 29th; found Maupertuis waitingthere, according to appointment: an elaborately polite, somewhatsublime scientific gentleman; ready to "engraft on the Berlincrab-tree," and produce real apples and Academics there, so soonas the King, the proprietor, may have leisure for such a thing.Algarotti has already the honor of some acquaintance withMaupertuis. Maupertuis has been at Brussels, on the road hither;saw Voltaire and even Madame,--which latter was rather a ticklishoperation, owing to grudges and tiffs of quarrel that had risen,but it proved successful under the delicate guidance of Voltaire.Voltaire is up to oiling the wheels: "There you are, Monsieur,like the [don't name What, though profane Voltaire does, writingto Maupertuis a month ago]--Three Kings running after you!" A newPension to you from France; Russia outbidding France to have you;and then that LETTER of Friedrich's, which is in all theNewspapers: "Three Kings,"--you plainly great man, Trismegistus ofthe Sciences called Pure! Madame honors you, has always done:one word of apology to the high female mind, it will work wonders;--come now! [Voltaire, OEuvres, lxxii. 217,216, 230 (Hague, 21st July, 1740, and Brussels, 9th Aug. &c).]

No reader guesses in our time what a shining celestial body theMaupertuis, who is now fallen so dim again, then was to mankind.In cultivated French society there is no such lion asM. Maupertuis since he returned from flattening the Earth in theArctic regions. "The Exact Sciences, what else is there to dependon?" thinks French cultivated society: "and has not Monsieur donea feat in that line?" Monsieur, with fine ex-military manners, hasa certain austere gravity, reticent loftiness and politedogmatism, which confirms that opinion. A studious ex-militaryman,--was Captain of Dragoons once, but too fond of study,--who isconscious to himself, or who would fain be conscious, that he is,in all points, mathematical, moral and other, the man. A difficultman to live with in society. Comes really near the limit of whatwe call genius, of originality, poetic greatness in thinking;--butnever once can get fairly over said limit, though alwaysstruggling dreadfully to do so. Think of it! A fatal kind of man;especially if you have made a lion of him at any time. Of hisenvies, deep-hidden splenetic discontents and rages, withVoltaire's return for them, there will be enough to say in theulterior stages. He wears--at least ten years hence he openlywears, though I hope it is not yet so flagrant--"a red wig withyellow bottom (CRINIERE JAUNE);" and as Flattener of the Earth,is, with his own flattish red countenance and impregnable stonyeyes, a man formidable to look upon, though intent to be amiableif you do the proper homage. As to the quarrel with Madame takethis Note; which may prove illustrative of some things byand by:--

Maupertuis is well known at Cirey; such a lion could not failthere. All manner of Bernouillis, Clairauts, high mathematicalpeople, are frequent guests at Cirey: reverenced by Madame,--whoindeed has had her own private Professor of Mathematics; one Konigfrom Switzerland (recommended by those Bernouillis), diligentlyteaching her the Pure Sciences this good while back, not withouteffect; and has only just parted with him, when she left on thisBrussels expedition. A BON GARCON, Voltaire says; thoughotherwise, I think, a little noisy on occasion. There has been noend of Madame's kindness to him, nay to his Brother and him,--sonsof a Theological Professorial Syriac-Hebrew kind of man at Berne,who has too many sons;--and I grieve to report that this heedlessKonig has produced an explosion in Madame's feelings, such aslittle beseemed him. On the road to Paris, namely, as we drovehitherward to the Honsbruck Lawsuit by way of Paris, in Autumnlast, there had fallen out some dispute, about the monads, the VISVIVA, the infinitely little, between Madame and Konig; disputewhich rose CRESCENDO in disharmonious duet, and "ended," testifiesM. de Voltaire, "in a scene TRESDESAGREABLE." Madame, with aneffort, forgave the thoughtless fellow, who is still rather young,and is without malice. But thoughtless Konig, strong in hisopinion about the infinitely little, appealed to Maupertuis:"Am not I right, Monsieur?" "HE is right beyond question!" wroteMaupertuis to Madame; "somewhat dryly," thinks Voltaire: and theresult is, there is considerable rage in one celestial mind eversince against another male one in red wig and yellow bottom;and they are not on speaking terms, for a good many months past.Voltaire has his heart sore ("J'EN AI LE COEUR PERCE") about it,needs to double-dose Maupertuis with flattery; and in fact hasused the utmost diplomacy to effect some varnish of areconcilement as Maupertuis passed on this occasion. As for Konig,who had studied in some Dutch university, he went by and by to beLibrarian to the Prince of Orange; and we shall not fail to hearof him again,--once more upon the infinitely little.[From OEuvres de Voltaire, ii. 126, lxxii.(20, 216, 230), lxiii. (229-239), &c. &c.]

Voltaire too, in his way, is fond of these mathematical people;eager enough to fish for knowledge, here as in all elements, whenhe has the chance offered: this is much an interest of his atpresent. And he does attain sound ideas, outlines of ideas, inthis province,--though privately defective in the duetranscendency of admiration for it;--was wont to discuss cheerilywith Konig, about VIS VIVA, monads, gravitation and the infinitelylittle; above all, bows to the ground before the red-wiggedBashaw, Flattener of the Earth, whom for Madame's sake and his ownhe is anxious to be well with. "Fall on your face nine times, yeesoteric of only Impure Science!"--intimates Maupertuis tomankind. "By all means!" answers M. de Voltaire, doing it withalacrity; with a kind of loyalty, one can perceive, and also witha hypocrisy grounded on love of peace. If that is the nature ofthe Bashaw, and one's sole mode of fishing knowledge from him,why not? thinks M. de Voltaire. His patience with M. deMaupertuis, first and last, was very great. But we shallfind it explode at length, a dozen years hence, in aconspicuous manner!--

"Maupertuis had come to us to Cirey, with Jean Bernouilli," saysVoltaire; "and thenceforth Maupertuis, who was born the mostjealous of men, took me for the object of this passion, which hasalways been very dear to him." [VIE PRIVEE.] Husht, Monsieur!--Here is a poor rheumatic kind of Letter, which illustrates theinterim condition, after that varnish of reconcilementat Brussels:--

VOLTAIRE TO M. DE MAUPERTUIS (at Wesel, waiting for the King, or with him rather).

"BRUSSELS, 29th August (1740), 3d year since the world flattened. "How the Devil, great Philosopher, would you have had me write toyou at Wesel? I fancied you gone from Wesel, to seek the King ofSages on his Journey somewhere. I had understood, too, they wereso delighted to have you in that fortified lodge (BOUGE FORTIFIE)that you must be taking pleasure there, for he that gives pleasuregets it.

"You have already seen the jolly Ambassador of the amiablestMonarch in the world,"--Camas, a fattish man, on his road toVersailles (who called at Brussels here, with fine compliments,and a keg of Hungary Wine, as YOU may have heard whispered)."No doubt M. de Camas is with you. For my own share, I think it isafter you that he is running at present. But in truth, at the hourwhile I say this, you are with the King;"--a lucky guess; King didreturn to Wesel this very day. "The Philosopher and the Princeperceive already that they are made for each other. You andM. Algarotti will say, FACIAMUS HIC TRIA TABERNACULA: as to me,I can only make DUO TABERNACULA,"--profane Voltaire!

"Without doubt I would be with you if I were not at Brussels;but my heart is with you all the same; and is the subject, all thesame, of a King who is, formed to reign over every thinking andfeeling being. I do not despair that Madame du Chatelet will findherself somewhere on your route: it will be a scene in a fairytale;--she will arrive with a SUFFICIENT REASON [as your Leibnitzsays] and with MONADS. She does not love you the less though shenow believes the universe a PLENUM, and has renounced the notionof VOID. Over her you have an ascendant which you will never lose.In fine, my dear Monsieur, I wish as ardently as she to embraceyou the soonest possible. I recommend myself to your friendship inthe Court, worthy of you, where you now are."--TOUT A VOUS,somewhat rheumatic! [Voltaire, lxxii. p. 243.]

Always an anxious almost tremulous desire to conciliate this bigglaring geometrical bully in red wig. Through the sensitivetransparent being of M. de Voltaire, you may see that feelingalmost painfully busy in every Letter he writes to the Flattenerof the Earth.

Chapter IV.

VOLTAIRE'S FIRST INTERVIEW WITH FRIEDRICH.

At Wesel, in the rear of all this travelling and excitement,Friedrich falls unwell; breaks down there into an aguish feverishdistemper, which, for several months after, impeded his movements,would he have yielded to it. He has much business on hand, too,--some of it of prickly nature just now;--but is intent as ever onseeing Voltaire, among the first things. Diligently reading in theVoltaire-Friedrich Correspondence (which is a sad jumble ofmisdates and opacities, in the common editions), [Preuss (therecent latest Editor, and the only well-informed one, as we said)prints with accuracy; but cannot be read at all (in the sense ofUNDERSTOOD) without other light.] this of the aguish conditionfrequently turns up; "Quartan ague," it seems; occasionally verybad; but Friedrich struggles with it; will not be cheated of anyof his purposes by it.

He had a busy fortnight here; busier than we yet imagine.Much employment there naturally is of the usual Inspection sort;which fails in no quarter of his Dominions, but which may beparticularly important here, in these disputed Berg-JulichCountries, when the time of decision falls. How he does hisInspections we know;--and there are still weightier matters afoothere, in a silent way, of which we shall have to speak beforelong, and all the world will speak. Business enough, parts of itgrave and silent, going on, and the much that is public,miscellaneous, small: done, all of it, in a rapid-punctual precisemanner;--and always, after the crowded day, some passages ofSupper with the Sages, to wind up with on melodious terms. A mostalert and miscellaneously busy young King, in spite of the ague.

It was in these Cleve Countries, and now as probably asafterwards, that the light scene recorded in Laveaux's poorHISTORY, and in all the Anecdote-Books, transacted itself one day.Substance of the story is true; though the details of it go all atrandom,--somewhat to this effect:--

"Inspecting his Finance Affairs, and questioning the partiesinterested, Friedrich notices a certain Convent in Cleve, whichappears to have, payable from the Forest-dues, considerablerevenues bequeathed by the old Dukes, 'for masses to be said ontheir behalf.' He goes to look at the place; questions the Monkson this point, who are all drawn out in two rows, and have brokeninto TE-DEUM at sight of him: 'Husht! You still say those Masses,then?' 'Certainly, your Majesty!'--'And what good does anybody getof them?' 'Your Majesty, those old Sovereigns are to obtainHeavenly mercy by them, to be delivered out of Purgatory bythem.'--'Purgatory? It is a sore thing for the Forests, all thiswhile! And they are not yet out, those poor souls, after so manyhundred years of praying?' Monks have a fatal apprehension, No.'When will they be out, and the thing complete?' Monks cannot say.'Send me a courier whenever it is complete!' sneers the King, andleaves them to their TE-DEUM." [C. Hildebrandt's Modern Editionof the (mostly dubious) Anekdoten und Charakterzuge ausdem Leben Friedrichs des Grossen (and a very ignorantand careless Edition it is; 6 vols. 12mo, Halberstadt, 1829), ii.160; Laveaus (whom we already cited), Vie de Frederic; &c. &c. Nicolai's Anekdoten alone, which are not included in this Hildebrandt Collection, areof sure authenticity; the rest, occasionally true, and often witha kind of MYTHIC truth in them worth attending to, are otherwiseof all degrees of dubiety, down to the palpably false and absurd.]

Mournful state of the Catholic Religion so called! How long mustthese wretched Monks go on doing their lazy thrice-deleterioustorpid blasphemy; and a King, not histrionic but real, merelysignify that he laughs at them and it? Meseems a heavier whip thanthat of satire might be in place here, your Majesty? The lighterwhip is easier;--Ah yes, undoubtedly! cry many men. But horribleaccounts are running up, enough to sink the world at last, whilethe heavier whip is lazily withheld, and lazy blasphemy, fallentorpid, chronic, and quite unconscious of being blasphemous,insinuates itself into the very heart's-blood of mankind!Patience, however; the heavy whip too is coming,--unless universaldeath be coming. King Friedrich is not the man to wield such whip.Quite other work is in store for King Friedrich; and Nature willnot, by any suggestion of that terrible task, put him out in theone he has. He is nothing of a Luther, of a Cromwell; can lookupon fakirs praying by their rotatory calabash, as a ludicrousplatitude; and grin delicately as above, with the approval of hiswiser contemporaries. Speed to him on his own course!

What answer Friedrich found to his English proposals,--answer duehere on the 24th from Captain Dickens,--I do not pointedly learn;but can judge of it by Harrington's reply to that Despatch ofDickens's, which entreated candor and open dealing towards hisPrussian Majesty. Harrington is at Herrenhausen, still with theBritannic Majesty there; both of them much at a loss about theirSpanish War, and the French and other aspects upon it: "Supposehis Prussian Majesty were to give himself to France against us!"We will hope, not. Harrington's reply is to the effect, "Hum,drum:--Berg and Julich, say you? Impossible to answer; minds notmade up here:--What will his Prussian Majesty do for US?"Not much, I should guess, till something more categorical comefrom you! His Prussian Majesty is careful not to spoil anything byover-haste; but will wait and try farther to the utmost, WhetherEngland or France is the likelier bargain for him.

Better still, the Prussian Majesty is intent to do something forhimself in that Berg-Julich matter: we find him silently examiningthese Wesel localities for a proper "entrenched Camp," Camp say of40,000, against a certain contingency that may be looked for.Camp which will much occupy the Gazetteers when they get eye onit. This is one of the concerns he silently attends to, onoccasion, while riding about in the Cleve Countries. Then there isanother small item of business, important to do well, which is nowin silence diligently getting under way at Wesel; which also is ofremarkable nature, and will astonish the Gazetteer and Diplomaticcircles. This is the affair with the Bishop of Liege, called alsothe Affair of Herstal, which his Majesty has had privately laid upin the corner of his mind, as a thing to be done during thisExcursion. Of which the reader shall hear anon, to great lengths,--were a certain small preliminary matter, Voltaire's Arrival inthese parts, once off our hands.

Friedrich's First Meeting with Voltaire! These other high thingswere once loud in the Gazetteer and Diplomatic circles, and had nodoubt they were the World's History; and now they are sunk whollyto the Nightmares, and all mortals have forgotten them,--and it issuch a task as seldom was to resuscitate the least memory of them,on just cause of a Friedrich or the like, so impatient are men ofwhat is putrid and extinct:--and a quite unnoticed thing,Voltaire's First Interview, all readers are on the alert for it,and ready to demand of me impossibilities about it! Patience,readers. You shall see it, without and within, in such light asthere was, and form some actual notion of it, if you willco-operate. From the circum-ambient inanity of Old Newspapers,Historical shot-rubbish, and unintelligible Correspondences, wesift out the following particulars, of this First Meeting, oractual Osculation of the Stars.

The Newspapers, though their eyes were not yet of the Argusquality now familiar to us, have been intent on Friedrich duringthis Baireuth-Cleve Journey, especially since that sudden eclipseof him at Strasburg lately; forming now one scheme of route forhim, now another; Newspapers, and even private friends, being agood deal uncertain about his movements. Rumor now ran, since hisreappearance in the Cleve Countries, that Friedrich meant to havea look at Holland before going home, And that had, in fact, been anotion or intention of Friedrich's. "Holland? We could passthrough Brussels on the way, and see Voltaire!" thought he.

In Brussels this was, of course, the rumor of rumors.As Voltaire's Letters, visibly in a twitter, still testify to us.King of Prussia coming! Madame du Chatelet, the "Princess Tour"(that is, Tour-and-Taxis), all manner of high Dames are on thetiptoe. Princess Tour hopes she shall lodge this unparalleledPrince in her Palace: "You, Madame?" answers the Du Chatelet,privately, with a toss of her head: "His Majesty, I hope, belongsmore to M. de Voltaire and me: he shall lodge here, pleaseHeaven!" Voltaire, I can observe, has sublime hostelryarrangements chalked out for his Majesty, in case he go to Paris;which he does n't, as we know. Voltaire is all on the alert, awaketo the great contingencies far and near; the Chatelet-Voltairebreakfast-table,--fancy it on those interesting mornings, whilethe post comes round! [Voltaire, xxii. 238-256 (Letters 22dAugust-22d September, 1740).]

Alas, in the first days of September,--Friedrich's Letter is dated"Wesel, 2d" (and has the STRASBURD DOGGEREL enclosed in it),--theBrussels Postman delivers far other intelligence at one's door;very mortifying to Madame: "That his Majesty is fallen ill atWesel; has an aguish fever hanging on him, and only hopes tocome:" VOILA, Madame!--Next Letter, Wesel, Monday, 5th September,is to the effect: "Do still much hope to come; to-morrow is mytrembling day; if that prove to be off!"--Out upon it, that provesnot to be off; that is on: next Letter, Tuesday, September 6th,which comes by express (Courier dashing up with it, say on theThursday following) is,--alas, Madame!--here it is:--

KING FRIEDRICH TO M. DE VOLTAIRE AT BRUSSELS.

"WESEL, 6th September, 1740."MY DEAR VOLTAIRE,--In spite of myself, I have to yield to theQuartan Fever, which is more tenacious than a Jansenist;and whatever desire I had of going to Antwerp and Brussels, I findmyself not in a condition to undertake such a journey withoutrisk. I would ask of you, then, if the road from Brussels to Clevewould not to you seem too long for a meeting; it is the one meansof seeing you which remains to me. Confess that I am unlucky;for now when I could dispose of my person, and nothing hinders mefrom seeing you, the fever gets its hand into the business, andseems to intend disputing me that satisfaction.

"Let us deceive the fever, my dear Voltaire; and let me at leasthave the pleasure of embracing you. Make my best excuses [polite,rather than sincere] to Madame the MARQUISE, that I cannot havethe satisfaction of seeing her at Brussels. All that are about meknow the intention I was in; which certainly nothing but the fevercould have made me change.

"Sunday next I shall be at a little Place near Cleve,"--Schloss ofMoyland, which, and the route to which, this Courier can tell youof;--"where I shall be able to possess you at my ease. If thesight of you don't cure me, I will send for a Confessor at once.Adieu; you know my sentiments and my heart. [Preuss, OEuvres de Frederic, xxii. 27.] FREDERIC."

After which the Correspondence suddenly extinguishes itself;ceases for about a fortnight,--in the bad misdated Editions evendoes worse;--and we are left to thick darkness, to our own poorshifts; Dryasdust being grandly silent on this small interest ofours. What is to be done?

PARTICULARS OF FIRST INTERVIEW, ON SEVERE SCRUTINY.

Here, from a painful Predecessor whose Papers I inherit, are someold documents and Studies on the subject,--sorrowful collection,in fact, of what poor sparks of certainty were to be foundhovering in that dark element;--which do at last (so luminous arecertainties always, or "sparks" that will shine steady) coalesceinto some feeble general twilight, feeble but indubitable;and even show the sympathetic reader how they were searched outand brought together. We number and label these poor Patches ofEvidence on so small a matter; and leave them to the curious:--

No. 1. DATE OF THE FIRST INTERVIEW. It is certain Voltaire didarrive at the little Schloss of Moyland, September llth, Sundaynight,--which is the "Sunday" just specified in Friedrich'sLetter. Voltaire had at once decided on complying,--what else?--and lost no time in packing himself: King's Courier on Thursdaylate; Voltaire on the road on Saturday early, or the night before.With Madame's shrill blessing (not the most musical in this vexingcase), and plenty of fuss. "Was wont to travel in considerablestyle," I am told; "the innkeepers calling him "Your Lordship(M. LE COMTE)." Arrives, sure enough, Sunday night; old Schloss ofMoyland, six miles from Cleve; "moonlight," I find,--the HarvestMoon. Visit lasted three days. [Rodenbeck, p. 21; Preuss, &c. &c.]

No. 2. VOLTAIRE'S DRIVE THITHER. Schloss Moyland: How far fromBrussels, and by what route? By Louvain, Tillemont, Tongres toMaestricht; then from Maestricht up the Maas (left bank) to Venlo,where cross; through Geldern and Goch to Cleve: between the Maasand Rhine this last portion. Flat damp country; tolerably undertillage; original constituents bog and sand. Distances I guess tobe: To Tongres 60 miles and odd; to Maestricht 12 or 15, fromMaestricht 75; in all 150 miles English. Two days' driving?There is equinoctial moon, and still above twelve hours ofsunlight for "M. le Comte."

No. 3. OF THE PLACE WHERE. Voltaire, who should have known, callsit "PETIT CHATEAU DE MEUSE;" which is a Castle existing nowherebut in Dreams. Other French Biographers are still more imaginary.The little Schloss of Moyland--by no means "Meuse," nor even MORS,which Voltaire probably means in saying CHATEAU DE MEUSE--was, asthe least inquiry settles beyond question, the place whereVoltaire and Friedrich first met. Friedrich Wilhelm used often tolodge there in his Cleve journeys: he made thither for shelter, inthe sickness that overtook him in friend Ginkel's house, cominghome from the Rhine Campaign in 1734; lay there for several weeksafter quitting Ginkel's. Any other light I can get upon it, isdarkness visible. Busching pointedly informs me,[ Erdbeschreibung, v. 659, 677.] "It is a Parish [or patchof country under one priest], and Till AND it are a Jurisdiction"(pair of patches under one court of justice):--which does not muchilluminate the inquiring mind. Small patch, this of Moyland, sizenot given; "was bought," says he, "in 1695, by Friedrichafterwards First King, from the Family of Spaen,"--we once knew aLieutenant Spaen, of those Dutch regions,--"and was named a RoyalMansion ever thereafter." Who lived in it; what kind of thing wasit, is it? ALTUM SILENTIUM, from Busching and mankind. Belonged tothe Spaens, fifty years ago;--some shadow of our poor banishedfriend the Lieutenant resting on it? Dim enough old Mansion, with"court" to it, with modicum of equipment; lying there in themoonlight;--did not look sublime to Voltaire on stepping out.So that all our knowledge reduces itself to this one point:of finding Moyland in the Map, with DATE, with REMINISCENCE to us,hanging by it henceforth! Good. [Stieler's Deutschland (excellent Map in 25 Pieces), Piece 12.--Till is amile or two northeast from Moyland; Moyland about 5 or 6 southeastfrom Cleve.]

Mors--which is near the Town of Ruhrort, about midway betweenWesel and Dusseldorf--must be some forty miles from Moyland,forty-five from Cleve; southward of both. So that the place,"A DEUX LIEUES DE CLEVES," is, even by Voltaire's showing, thisMoyland; were there otherwise any doubt upon it. "CHATEAU DEMEUSE"--hanging out a prospect of MORS to us--is bad usage toreaders. Of an intelligent man, not to say a Trismegistus of men,one expects he will know in what town he is, after three days'experience, as here. But he does not always; he hangs out a mere"shadow of Mars by moonlight," till we learn better. Duvernet, hisBiographer, even calls it "SLEUS-MEUSE;" some wonderful idea ofSluices and a River attached to it, in Duvernet's head! [Duvernet(2d FORM of him,--that is, Vie de Voltaire par T. J. D. V.), p. 117.]

WHAT VOLTAIRE THOUGHT OF THE INTERVIEW TWENTY YEARS AFTERWARDS

Of the Interview itself, with general bird's-eye view of the Visitcombined (in a very incorrect state), there is direct testimony byVoltaire himself. Voltaire himself, twenty years after, in farother humor, all jarred into angry sarcasm, for causes we shallsee by and by,--Voltaire, at the request of friends, writes down,as his Friedrich Reminiscences, that scandalous VIE PRIVEE abovespoken of, a most sad Document; and this is the passage referringto "the little Place in the neighborhood of Cleve," whereFriedrich now waited for him: errors corrected by our laboriousFriend. After quoting something of that Strasburg Doggerel, thewhole of which is now too well known to us, Voltaire proceeds:--

"From Strasburg he," King Friedrich, "went to see his Lower GermanProvinces; he said he would come and see me incognito at Brussels.We prepared a fine house for him,"--were ready to prepare suchhired house as we had for him, with many apologies for its slightdegree of perfection (ERROR FIRST),--"but having fallen ill in thelittle Mansion-Royal of Meuse (CHATEAU DE MEUSE), a couple ofleagues from Cleve,"--fell ill at Wesel; and there is no Chateaude MEUSE in the world (ERRORS 2d AND 3d),--"he wrote to me that heexpected I would make the advances. I went, accordingly, topresent my profound homages. Maupertuis, who already had hisviews, and was possessed with the rage of being President to anAcademy, had of his own accord,"--no, being invited, and at mysuggestion (ERROR 4th),--"presented himself there; and was lodgedwith Algarotti and Keyserling [which latter, I suppose, had comefrom Berlin, not being of the Strasburg party, he] in a garret ofthis Palace.

"At the door of the court, I found, by way of guard, one soldier.Privy-Councillor Rambonet, Minister of State--[very subaltern man;never heard of him except in the Herstal Business, and here] waswalking in the court; blowing in his fingers to keep them warm."Sunday night, 11th September, 1740; world all bathed in moonshine;and mortals mostly shrunk into their huts, out of the raw air."He" Rambonet "wore big linen ruffles at his wrists, very dirty[visibly so in the moonlight? ERROR 5th extends AD LIBITUM overall the following details]; a holed hat; an old officialperiwig,"--ruined into a totally unsymmetric state, as wouldseem,--"one side of which hung down into one of his pockets, andthe other scarcely crossed his shoulder. I was told, this man wasnow intrusted with an affair of importance here; and that provedtrue,"--the Herstal Affair.

"I was led into his Majesty's apartment. Nothing but four barewalls there. By the light of a candle, I perceived, in a closet, alittle truckle-bed two feet and a half broad, on which lay a manmuffled up in a dressing-gown of coarse blue duffel: this was theKing, sweating and shivering under a wretched blanket there, in aviolent fit of fever. I made my reverence, and began theacquaintance by feeling his pulse, as if I had been his chiefphysician. The fit over, he dressed himself, and took his place attable. Algarotti, Keyserling, Maupertuis, and the King's Envoy tothe States-General"--one Rasfeld (skilled in HERSTAL matters, Icould guess),--"we were of this supper, and discussed, naturallyin a profound manner, the Immortality of the Soul, Liberty, Fate,the Androgynes of Plato [the ANDROGYNOI, or Men-Women, in Plato'sCONVIVIUM; by no means the finest symbolic fancy of the divinePlato],--and other small topics of that nature." [Voltaire, OEuvres, (Piece once called VIE PRIVEE),ii. 26, 27.]

This is Voltaire's account of the Visit,--which included three"Suppers," all huddled into one by him here;--and he says nothingmore of it; launching off now into new errors, about HERSTAL, theANTI-MACHIAVEL, and so forth: new and uglier errors, with muchmore of mendacity and serious malice in them, than in thisharmless half-dozen now put on the score against him.

Of this Supper-Party, I know by face four of the guests:Maupertuis, Voltaire, Algarotti, Keyserling;--Rasfeld, Rambonetcan sit as simulacra or mute accompaniment. Voltaire arrived onSunday evening; stayed till Wednesday. Wednesday morning, 14th ofthe month, the Party broke up: Voltaire rolling off to left hand,towards Brussels, or the Hague; King to right, on inspectionbusiness, and circuitously homewards. Three Suppers there hadbeen, two busy Days intervening; discussions about Fate and theAndrogynoi of Plato by no means the one thing done by Voltaire andthe rest, on this occasion. We shall find elsewhere, "he declaimedhis MAHOMET" (sublime new Tragedy, not yet come out), in thecourse of these three evenings, to the "speechless admiration" ofhis Royal Host, for one; and, in the daytime, that he even drewhis pen about the Herstal Business, which is now getting to itscrisis, and wrote one of the Manifestoes, still discoverable.And we need not doubt, in spite of his now sneering tone, thatthings ran high and grand here, in this paltry little Schloss ofMoyland; and that those three were actually Suppers of the Gods,for the time being.

"Councillor Rambonet,', with the holed hat and unsymmetric wig,continues Voltaire in the satirical vein, "had meanwhile mounted ahired hack (CHEVAL DE LOUAGE;" mischievous Voltaire, I have nodoubt he went on wheels, probably of his own): "he rode all night;and next morning arrived at the gates of Liege; where he took Actin the name of the King his Master, whilst 2,000 men of the WeselTroops laid Liege under contribution. The pretext of this fineMarching of Troops,"--not a pretext at all, but the assertion,correct in all points, of just claims long trodden down, and nowmade good with more spirit than had been expected,--"was certainrights which the King pretended to, over a suburb of Liege.He even charged me to work at a Manifesto; and I made one, good orbad; not doubting but a King with whom I supped, and who called mehis friend, must be in the right. The affair soon settled itselfby means of a million of ducats,"--nothing like the sum, as weshall see,--"which he exacted by weight, to clear the costs of theTour to Strasburg, which, according to his complaint in thatPoetic Letter [Doggerel above given], were so heavy."

That is Voltaire's view; grown very corrosive after Twenty Years.He admits, with all the satire: "I naturally felt myself attachedto him; for he had wit, graces; and moreover he was a King, whichalways forms a potent seduction, so weak is human nature.Usually it is we of the writing sort that flatter Kings: but thisKing praised me from head to foot, while the Abbe Desfontaines andother scoundrels (GREDINS) were busy defaming me in Paris at leastonce a week."

WHAT VOLTAIRE THOUGHT OF THE INTERVIEW AT THE TIME.

But let us take the contemporary account, which also we have atfirst hand; which is almost pathetic to read; such a contrastbetween ruddy morning and the storms of the afternoon! Here aretwo Letters from Voltaire; fine transparent human Letters, as hisgenerally are: the first of them written directly on getting backto the Hague, and to the feeling of his eclipsed condition.

VOLTAIRE TO M. DE MAUPERTUIS (with the King).

"THE HAGUE, 18th September, 1740."I serve you, Monsieur, sooner than I promised; and that is theway you ought to be served. I send you the answer of M. Smith,"--probably some German or Dutch SCHMIDT, spelt here in English,connected with the Sciences, say with water-carriage, thetypographies, or one need not know what; "you will see where thequestion stands.

"When we both left Cleve,"--14th of the month, Wednesday last;18th is Sunday, in this old cobwebby Palace, where I am correctingANTI-MACHIAVEL,--"and you took to the right,"--King, homewards,got to HAM that evening,--"I could have thought I was at the LastJudgment, where the Bon Dieu separates the elect from the damned.DIVUS FREDERICUS said to you, 'Sit down at my right hand in theParadise of Berlin;' and to me, 'Depart, thou accursed, intoHolland.'

"Here I am accordingly in this phlegmatic place of punishment, farfrom the divine fire which animates the Friedrichs, theMaupertuis, the Algarottis. For God's love, do me the charity ofsome sparks in these stagnant waters where I am,"--stiffening,cooling,--"stupefying to death. Instruct me of your pleasures, ofyour designs. You will doubtless see M. de Valori,"--readers knowde Valori; his Book has been published; edited, as too usual, by aHuman Nightmare, ignorant of his subject and indeed of almost allother things, and liable to mistakes in every page; yet partlyreadable, if you carry lanterns, and love "MON GROS VALORI:"--"offer him, I pray you, my respects. If I do not write to him, thereason is, I have no news to send: I should be as exact as I amdevoted, if my correspondence could be useful or agreeable to him.

"Won't you have me send you some Books? If I be still in Hollandwhen your orders come, I will obey in a moment. I pray you do notforget me to M. de Keyserling,"--Caesarion whom we once had atCirey; a headlong dusky little man of wit (library turned topsy-turvy, as Wilhelmina called him), whom we have seen.

"Tell me, I beg, if the enormous monad of Volfius--[Wolf, wouldthe reader like to hear about him? If so, he has only to speak!]is arguing at Marburg, at Berlin, or at Hall [HALLE, which is avery different place].

"Adieu, Monsieur: you can address your orders to me 'At theHague:' they will be forwarded wherever I am; and I shall be,anywhere on earth,--Yours forever (A VOUS POUR JAMAIS)."[Voltaire, lxxii. 252.]

Letter Second, of which a fragment may be given, is to oneCideville, a month later; all the more genuine as there was nochance of the King's hearing about this one. Cideville, some kindof literary Advocate at Rouen (who is wearisomely known to thereader of Voltaire's Letters), had done, what is rather anendemical disorder at this time, some Verses for the King ofPrussia, which he wished to be presented to his Majesty.The presentation, owing to accidents, did not take place;hear how Voltaire, from his cobweb Palace at the Hague, busy withANTI-MACHIAVEL, Van Duren and many other things,--18th October,1740, on which day we find him writing many Letters,--explains thesad accident:--

VOLTAIRE TO M. DE CIDEVILLE (at Rouen).

"AT THE HAGUE, KING OF PRUSSIA'S PALACE,18th October, 1740.

"... This is my case, dear Cideville. When you sent me, enclosedin your Letter, those Verses (among which there are some ofcharming and inimitable turn) for our Marcus Aurelius of theNorth, I did well design to pay my court to him with them. He wasat that time to have come to Brussels incognito: we expected himthere; but the Quartan Fever, which unhappily he still has,deranged all his projects. He sent me a courier to Brussels,"--mark that point, my Cideville;--"and so I set out to find him inthe neighborhood of Cleve.

"It was there I saw one of the amiablest men in the world, whoforms the charm of society, who would be everywhere sought afterif he were not King; a philosopher without austerity; full ofsweetness, complaisance and obliging ways (AGREMENS);not remembering that he is King when he meets his friends; indeedso completely forgetting it that he made me too almost forget it,and I needed an effort of memory to recollect that I here sawsitting at the foot of my bed a Sovereign who had an Army of100,000 men. That was the moment to have read your amiable Versesto him:"--yes; but then?--"Madame du Chatelet, who was to havesent them to me, did not, NE L'A PA FAIT." Alas, no, they arestill at Brussels, those charming Verses; and I, for a month past,am here in my cobweb Palace! But I swear to you, the instant Ireturn to Brussels, I, &c. &c. [Voltaire, lxii. 282.]

Finally, here is what Friedrich thought of it, ten days afterparting with Voltaire. We will read this also (though otherwiseahead of us as yet); to be certified on all sides, and sated forthe rest of our lives, concerning the Friedrich-VoltaireFirst Interview.

KING FRIEDRICH TO M. JORDAN (at Berlin).

POTSDAM, 24th September, 1740.

"Most respectable Inspector of the poor, the invalids, orphans,crazy people and Bedlams,--I have read with mature meditation thevery profound Jordanic Letter which was waiting here;"--and doaccept your learned proposal.

"I have seen that Voltaire whom I was so curious to know; but Isaw him with the Quartan hanging on me, and my mind as unstrung asmy body. With men of his kind one ought not to be sick; one oughteven to be specially well, and in better health than common, ifone could.

"He has the eloquence of Cicero, the mildness of Pliny, the wisdomof Agrippa; he combines, in short, what is to be collected ofvirtues and talents from the three greatest men of Antiquity.His intellect is at work incessantly; every drop of ink is a traitof wit from his pen. He declaimed his MAHOMET to us, an admirableTragedy which he has done,"--which the Official people smellingheresies in it ("toleration," "horrors of fanaticism," and thelike) will not let him act, as readers too well know:--"hetransported us out of ourselves; I could only admire and hold mytongue. The Du Chatelet is lucky to have him: for of the goodthings he flings out at random, a person who had no faculty butmemory might make a brilliant Book. That Minerva has justpublished her Work on PHYSICS: not wholly bad. It was Konig"--whomwe know, and whose late tempest in a certain teapot--"thatdictated the theme to her: she has adjusted, ornamented here andthere with some touch picked from Voltaire at her Suppers.The Chapter on Space is pitiable; the"--in short, she is still rawin the Pure Sciences, and should have waited. ...

"Adieu, most learned, most scientific, most profound Jordan,--orrather most gallant, most amiable, most jovial Jordan;--I salutethee, with assurance of all those old feelings which thou hast theart of inspiring in every one that knows thee. VALE.

"I write the moment of my arrival: be obliged to me, friend; for Ihave been working, I am going to work still, like a Turk, or likea Jordan." [ OEuvres de Frederic, xvii. 71.]

This is hastily thrown off for Friend Jordan, the instant afterhis Majesty's circuitous return home. Readers cannot yet attendhis Majesty there, till they have brought the Affair of Herstal,and other remainders of the Cleve Journey, along with them.

Chapter V.

AFFAIR OF HERSTAL.

This Rambonet, whom Voltaire found walking in the court of the oldCastle of Moyland, is an official gentleman, otherwise unknown toHistory, who has lately been engaged in a Public Affair; and isnow off again about it, "on a hired hack" or otherwise,--with verygood instructions in his head. Affair which, though in itself butsmall, is now beginning to make great noise in the world, asFriedrich wends homewards out of his Cleve Journey. He has set itfairly alight, Voltaire and he, before quitting Moyland; and nowit will go of itself. The Affair of Herstal, or of the Bishop ofLiege; Friedrich's first appearance on the stage of politics.Concerning which some very brief notice, if intelligible, willsuffice readers of the present day.

Heristal, now called Herstal, was once a Castle known to allmankind; King Pipin's Castle, who styled himself "Pipin ofHeristal," before he became King of the Franks and begotCharlemagne. It lies on the Maas, in that fruitful Spa Country;left bank of the Maas, a little to the north of Liege;and probably began existence as a grander place than Liege(LUTTICH), which was, at first, some Monastery dependent onsecular Herstal and its grandeurs:--think only how the race hasgone between these two entities; spiritual Liege now a big City,black with the smoke of forges and steam-mills; Herstal aninsignificant Village, accidentally talked of for a few weeks in1740, and no chance ever to be mentioned again by men.

Herstal, in the confused vicissitudes of a thousand years, hadpassed through various fortunes, and undergone change of ownersoften enough. Fifty years ago it was in the hands of the Nassau-Orange House; Dutch William, our English Protestant King, whoprobably scarce knew of his possessing it, was Lord of Herstaltill his death. Dutch William had no children to inherit Herstal:he was of kinship to the Prussian House, as readers are aware;and from that circumstance, not without a great deal ofdiscussion, and difficult "Division of the Orange Heritage," thisHerstal had, at the long last, fallen to Friedrich Wilhelm'sshare; it and Neuchatel, and the Cobweb Palace, and some otherplaces and pertinents.

For Dutch William was of kin, we say; Friedrich I. of Prussia, byhis Mother the noble Wife of the Great Elector, was full cousin toDutch William: and the Marriage Contracts were express,--thoughthe High Mightinesses made difficulties, and the collateral Orangebranches were abundantly reluctant, when it came to the fulfillingpoint. For indeed the matter was intricate. Orange itself, forexample, what was to be done with the Principality of Orange?Clearly Prussia's; but it lies imbedded deep in the belly ofFrance, that will be a Caesarean-Operation for you! Had notNeuchatel happened just then to fall home to France (or in somemeasure to France) and be heirless, Prussia's Heritage of Orangewould have done little for Prussia! Principality of Orange was, bythis chance, long since, mainly in the First King's time, gotsettled: [Neuchatel, 3d November, 1707, to Friedrich I., nativespreferring him to "Fifteen other Claimants;" Louis XIV. loudlyprotesting: not till Treaty of Utrecht (14th March 1713, firstmonth of Friedrich Wilhelm's reign) would Louis XIV., on cessionof Orange, consent and sanction.] but there needed many years moreof good waiting, and of good pushing, on Friedrich Wilhelm's part;and it was not till 1732 that Friedrich Wilhelm got the DutchHeritages finally brought to the square: Neuchatel and Valengin,as aforesaid, in lieu of Orange; and now furthermore, the OldPalace at Loo (that VIEILLE COUR and biggest cobwebs), withpertinents, with Garden of Honslardik; and a string of items,bigger and less, not worth enumerating. Of the items, this Herstalwas one;--and truly, so far as this went, Friedrich Wilhelm oftenthought he had better never have seen it, so much trouble did itbring him.

HOW THE HERSTALLERS HAD BEHAVED TO FRIEDRICH WILHELM.

The Herstal people, knowing the Prussian recruiting system andother rigors, were extremely unwilling to come under FriedrichWilhelm's sway, could they have helped it. They refused fealty,swore they never would swear: nor did they, till the appearance,or indubitable foreshine, of Friedrich Wilhelm's bayonetsadvancing on them from the East, brought compliance. And alwaysafter, spite of such quasi-fealty, they showed a pig-likeobstinacy of humor; a certain insignificant, and as it wereimpertinent, deep-rooted desire to thwart, irritate and contradictthe said Friedrich Wilhelm. Especially in any recruiting matterthat might arise, knowing that to be the weak side of his PrussianMajesty. All this would have amounted to nothing, had it not beenthat their neighbor, the Prince Bishop of Liege, who imaginedhimself to have some obscure claims of sovereignty over Herstal,and thought the present a good opportunity for asserting these,was diligent to aid and abet the Herstal people in such theirmutinous acts. Obscure claims; of which this is the summary,should the reader not prefer to skip it:--

"The Bishop of Liege's claims on Herstal (which lie wrapt frommankind in the extensive jungle of his law-pleadings, like aBedlam happily fallen extinct) seem to me to have grown mainlyfrom two facts more or less radical.

"FACT FIRST. In Kaiser Barbarossa's time, year 1171, Herstal hadbeen given in pawn to the Church of Liege, for a loan, by the thenproprietor, Duke of Lorraine and Brabant. Loan was repaid, I donot learn when, and the Pawn given back; to the satisfaction ofsaid Duke, or Duke's Heirs; never quite to the satisfaction of theChurch, which had been in possession, and was loath to quit, afterhoping to continue. 'Give us back Herstal; it ought to be ours!'Unappeasable sigh or grumble to this effect is heard thenceforth,at intervals, in the Chapter of Liege, and has not ceased inFriedrich's time. But as the world, in its loud thoroughfares,seldom or never heard, or could hear, such sighing in the Chapter,nothing had come of it,--till--

"FACT SECOND. In Kaiser Karl V.'s time, the Prince Bishop of Liegehappened to be a Natural Son of old Kaiser Max's;--and had friendsat headquarters, of a very choice nature. Had, namely, in thissort, Kaiser Karl for Nephew or Half-Nephew; and what perhaps wasstill better, as nearer hand, had Karl's Aunt, Maria Queen ofHungary, then Governess of the Netherlands, for Half-Sister.Liege, in these choice circumstances, and by other good chancesthat turned up, again got temporary clutch or half-clutch ofHerstal, for a couple of years (date 1546-1548, the Prince ofOrange, real proprietor, whose Ancestor had bought it for moneydown, being then a minor); once, and perhaps a second time in likecircumstance; but had always to renounce it again, when the Princeof Orange came to maturity. And ever since, the Chapter of Liegesighs as before, 'Herstal is perhaps in a sense ours. We had oncesome kind of right to it!'--sigh inaudible in the loud publicthoroughfares. That is the Bishop's claim. The name of him, ifanybody care for it, is 'Georg Ludwig, titular COUNT OF BERG,' nowa very old man: Bishop of Liege, he, and has been snatching atHerstal again, very eagerly by any skirt or tagrag that mighthappen to fly loose, these eight years past, in a rash andprovoking manner; [ Delices du Pais de Liege (Liege, 1738); Helden-Geschichte, ii. 57-62.]--age eighty-two at present; poor old fool, he hadbetter have sat quiet. There lies a rod in pickle for him, duringthese late months; and will be surprisingly laid on, were thetime come!"

"I have Law Authority over Herstal, and power of judging there inthe last appeal," said this Bishop:--"You!" thought FriedrichWilhelm, who was far off, and had little time to waste.--"Any Prussian recruiter that behaves ill, bring him to me!" saidthe Bishop, who was on the spot. And accordingly it had been done;one notable instance two years ago: a Prussian Lieutenant lockedin the Liege jail, on complaint of riotous Herstal; thereupon aPrussian Officer of rank (Colonel Kreutzen, worthy old Malplaquetgentleman) coming as Royal Messenger, not admitted to audience,nay laid hold of by the Liege bailiff instead; and other unheard-of procedures. [ Helden-Geschichte, ii.63-73.] So that Friedrich Wilhelm had nothing but trouble withthis petty Herstal, and must have thought his neighbor Bishop avery contentious high-flying gentleman, who took great libertieswith the Lion's whiskers, when he had the big animal atan advantage.

The episcopal procedures, eight years ago, about the FirstHomaging of Herstal, had been of similar complexion; nor had othersuch failed in the interim, though this last outrage exceeded themall. This last began in the end of 1738; and span itself outthrough 1739, when Friedrich Wilhelm lay in his final sickness,less able to deal with it than formerly. Being a peaceable man,unwilling to awaken conflagrations for a small matter, FriedrichWilhelm had offered, through Kreutzen on this occasion, to partwith Herstal altogether; to sell it, for 100,000 thalers, say16,000 pounds, to the high-flying Bishop, and honestly wash hishands of it. But the high-flying Bishop did not consent, gave nodefinite answer; and so the matter lay,--like an unsettledextremely irritating paltry little matter,--at the time FriedrichWilhelm died.

The Gazetteers and public knew little about these particulars, orhad forgotten them again; but at the Prussian Court they were inlively remembrance. What the young Friedrich's opinion about themhad been we gather from this succinct notice of the thing, writtenseven or eight years afterwards, exact in all points, and stillcarrying a breath of the old humor in it. "A miserable Bishop ofLiege thought it a proud thing to insult the late King.Some subjects of Herstal, which belongs to Prussia, had revolted;the Bishop gave them his protection. Colonel Kreutzen was sent toLiege, to compose the thing by treaty; credentials with him, fullpower, and all in order. Imagine it, the Bishop would not receivehim! Three days, day after day, he saw this Envoy apply at hisPalace, and always denied him entrance. These things had grownpast endurance." [Preuss, OEuvres (Memoires deBrandebourg), end italic> ii. 53.] And Friedrich had taken note ofHerstal along with him, on this Cleve Journey; privately intendingto put Herstal and the high-flying Bishop on a suitabler footing,before his return from those countries.

For indeed, on Friedrich's Accession, matters had grown worse, notbetter. Of course there was Fealty to be sworn; but the Herstalpeople, abetted by the high-flying Bishop, have declined swearingit. Apology for the past, prospect of amendment for the future,there is less than ever. What is the young King to do with thispaltry little Hamlet of Herstal? He could, in theory, go into someReichs-Hofrath, some Reichs-Kammergericht (kind of treble andtenfold English Court-of-Chancery, which has lawsuits 250 yearsold),--if he were a theoretic German King. He can plead in theDiets, and the Wetzlar Reichs-Kammergericht without end:"All German Sovereigns have power to send their Ambassadorthither, who is like a mastiff chained in the back-yard [observesFriedrich elsewhere] with privilege of barking at the Moon,"--unrestricted privilege of barking at the Moon, if that will availa practical man, or King's Ambassador. Or perhaps the Bishop ofLiege will bethink him, at last, what considerable liberty he istaking with some people's whiskers? Four months are gone;Bishop of Liege has not in the least bethought him: we are in theneighborhood in person, with note of the thing in our memory.

FRIEDRICH TAKES THE ROD OUT OF PICKLE.

Accordingly the Rath Rambonet, whom Voltaire found at Moyland thatSunday night, had been over at Liege; went exactly a week before;with this message of very peremptory tenor from his Majesty:--

TO THE PRINCE BISHOP OF LIEGE.

"WESEL, 4th September, 1740.

"MY COUSIN,--Knowing all the assaults (ATTEINTES) made by you uponmy indisputable rights over my free Barony of Herstal; and how theseditious ringleaders there, for several years past, have beencountenanced (BESTARKET) by you in their detestable acts ofdisobedience against me,--I have commanded my Privy CouncillorRambonet to repair to your presence, and in my name to requirefrom you, within two days, a distinct and categorical answer tothis question: Whether you are still minded to assert yourpretended sovereignty over Herstal; and whether you willprotect the rebels at Herstal, in their disorders andabominable disobedience?

"In case you refuse, or delay beyond the term, the Answer which Ihereby of right demand, you will render yourself aloneresponsible, before the world, for the consequences whichinfallibly will follow. I am, with much consideration,--My Cousin,--

"Your very affectionate Cousin,

"FRIEDRICH."[ Helden-Geschichte, ii. 75, 111.]

Rambonet had started straightway for Liege, with this missive;and had duly presented it there, I guess on the 7th,--with noticethat he would wait forty-eight hours, and then return with whatanswer or no-answer there might be. Getting no written answer, ordistinct verbal one; getting only some vague mumblement as good asnone, Rambonet had disappeared from Liege on the 9th; and was homeat Moyland when Voltaire arrived that Sunday evening,--justwalking about to come to heat again, after reportiag progress tothe above effect.

Rambonet, I judge, enjoyed only one of those divine Suppers atMoyland; and dashed off again, "on hired hack" or otherwise, thevery next morning; that contingency of No-answer having been theanticipated one, and all things put in perfect readiness for it.Rambonet's new errand was to "take act," as Voltaire calls it, "atthe Gates of Liege,"--to deliver at Liege a succinct Manifesto,Pair of Manifestoes, both in Print (ready beforehand), and bearingdate that same Sunday, "Wesel, 11th September;" much calculated toamaze his Reverence at Liege. Succinct good Manifestoes, said tobe of Friedrich's own writing; the essential of the two is this:--

Exposition of the Reasons which have induced his Majestythe King of Prussia to make just Reprisals on the Prince Bishop ofLiege.

"His Majesty the King of Prussia, being driven beyond bounds bythe rude proceedings of the Prince Bishop of Liege, has withregret seen himself forced to recur to the Method of Arms, inorder to repress the violence and affront which the Bishop hasattempted to put upon him. This resolution has cost his Majestymuch pain; the rather as he is, by principle and disposition, farremote from whatever could have the least relation to rigorand severity.

"But seeing himself compelled by the Bishop of Liege to take newmethods, he had no other course but to maintain the justice of hisrights (LA JUSTICE DE SES DROITS), and demand reparation for theindignity done upon his Minister Von Kreuzen, as well as for thecontempt with which the Bishop of Liege has neglected even toanswer the Letter of the King.

"As too much rigor borders upon cruelty, so too much patienceresembles weakness. Thus, although the King would willingly havesacrificed his interests to the public peace and tranquillity, itwas not possible to do so in reference to his honor; and that isthe chief motive which has determined him to this resolution, socontrary to his intentions.

"In vain has it been attempted, by methods of mildness, to come toa friendly agreement: it has been found, on the contrary, that theKing's moderation only increased the Prince's arrogance;that mildness of conduct on one side only furnished resources topride on the other; and that, in fine, instead of gaining by softprocedure, one was insensibly becoming an object of vexationand disdain.

"There being no means to have justice but in doing it for oneself,and the King being Sovereign enough for such a duty,--he intendsto make the Prince of Liege feel how far he was in the wrong toabuse such moderation so unworthily. But in spite of so muchunhandsome behavior on the part of this Prince, the King will notbe inflexible; satisfied with having shown the said Prince that hecan punish him, and too just to overwhelm him. FREDERIC."WESEL, September 11th, 174O."[ Helden-Geschichte, ii. 77. Said to be byFriedrich himself (Stenzel, iv. 59).]

Whether Rambonet insinuated his Paper-Packet into the Palace ofSeraing, left it at the Gate of Liege (fixed by nail, if he sawgood), or in what manner he "took act," I never knew; and indeedRambonet vanishes from human History at this point: it is certainonly that he did his Formality, say two days hence;--and that theFact foreshadowed by it is likewise in the same hours, hour afterhour, getting steadily done.

For the Manifestoes printed beforehand, dated Wesel, 11thSeptember, were not the only thing ready at Wesel; waiting, as onthe slip, for the contingency of No-answer. Major-General Borck,with the due Battalions, squadrons and equipments, was also ready.Major-General Borck, the same who was with us at Baireuth lately,had just returned from that journey, when he got orders to collect2,000 men, horse and foot, with the due proportion of artillery,from the Prussian Garrisons in these parts; and to be ready formarching with them, the instant the contingency of No-answerarrives,--Sunday, 11th, as can be foreseen. Borck knows his route:To Maaseyk, a respectable Town of the Bishop's, the handiestfor Wesel; to occupy Maaseyk and the adjoining "Counties of Lotzand Horn;" and lie there at the Bishop's charge till hisReverence's mind alter.

Borck is ready, to the last pontoon, the last munition-loaf;and no sooner is signal given of the No-answer come, than Borck,that same "Sunday, 11th," gets under way; marches, steady asclock-work, towards Maaseyk (fifty miles southwest of him,distance now lessening every hour); crosses the Maas, by help ofhis pontoons; is now in the Bishop's Territory, and entersMaaseyk, evening of "Wednesday, 14th,"--that very day Voltaire andhis Majesty had parted, going different ways from Moyland; andprobably about the same hour while Rambonet was "taking act at theGate of Liege," by nail-hammer or otherwise. All goes punctual,swift, cog hitting pinion far and near, in this small HerstalBusiness; and there is no mistake made, and a minimum oftime spent.

Borck's management was throughout good: punctual, quietly exact,polite, mildly inflexible. Fain would the Maaseyk Town-Baths haveshut their gates on him; desperately conjuring him, "Respite for afew hours, till we send to Liege for instructions!" But it was tono purpose. "Unbolt, IHR HERREN; swift, or the petard will have todo it!" Borck publishes his Proclamation, a mild-spoken rigorousPiece; signifies to the Maaseyk Authorities, That he has to exacta Contribution of 20,000 thalers (3,000 pounds) here, Contributionpayable in three days; that he furthermore, while he continues inthese parts, will need such and such rations, accommodations,allowances,--"fifty LOUIS (say guineas) daily for his own privateexpenses," one item;--and, in mild rhadamanthine language, wavesaside all remonstrance, refusal or delay, as superfluousconsiderations: Unless said Contribution and required suppliescome in, it will be his painful duty to bring them in.[ Helden-Geschichte, i. 427; ii. 113.]

The high-flying Bishop, much astonished, does now eagerly answerhis Prussian Majesty, "Was from home, was ill, thought he hadanswered; is the most ill-used of Bishops;" and other things of ahysteric character. [Ib. ii. 85, 86 (date, 16th September).]And there came forth, as natural to the situation, multitudinouscomplainings, manifestoings, applications to the Kaiser, to theFrench, to the Dutch, of a very shrieky character on the Bishop ofLiege's part; sparingly, if at all noticed on Friedrich's:the whole of which we shall consider ourselves free to leaveundisturbed in the rubbish-abysses, as henceforth conceivable tothe reader. "SED SPEM STUPENDE FEFELLIT EVENTUS," shrieks the poorold Bishop, making moan to the Kaiser: "ECCE ENIM, PRAEMISSADUNTAXAT UNA LITERA, one Letter," and little more, "the said Kingof Borussia has, with about 2,000 horse and foot, and warlikeengines, in this month of September, entered the Territory ofLiege;" [ Helden-Geschichte, ii. 88.] whichis an undeniable truth, but an unavailing. Borck is there, and"2,000 good arguments with him," as Voltaire defines thephenomenon. Friedrich, except to explain pertinently what myreaders already know, does not write or speak farther on thesubject; and readers and he may consider the Herstal Affair, thusset agoing under Borck's auspices, as in effect finished; and thathis Majesty has left it on a satisfactory footing, and may safelyturn his back on it, to wait the sure issue at Berlin before long.

WHAT VOLTAIRE THOUGHT OF HERSTAL.

Voltaire told us he himself "did one Manifesto, good or bad," onthis Herstal business:--where is that Piece, then, what has becomeof it? Dig well in the realms of Chaos, rectifying stupiditiesmore or less enormous, the Piece itself is still discoverable;and, were pieces by Voltaire much a rarity instead of the reverse,might be resuscitated by a good Editor, and printed in his WORKS.Lies buried in the lonesome rubbish-mountains of that Helden-Geschichte, --let a SISTE VIATOR, scratched onthe surface, mark where. [Ib. ii. 98-98.] Apparently that is thePiece by Voltaire? Yes, on reading that, it has every internalevidence; distinguishes itself from the surrounding pieces, like aslab of compact polished stone, in a floor rammed together out ofruinous old bricks, broken bottles and mortar-dust;--agrees, too,if you examine by the microscope, with the external indications,which are sure and at last clear, though infinitesimally small;and is beyond doubt Voltaire's, if it were now good for much.

It is not properly a Manifesto, but an anonymous memoir publishedin the Newspapers, explaining to impartial mankind, in a legiblebrief manner, what the old and recent History of Herstal, and theTroubles of Herstal, have been, and how chimerical and "null tothe extreme of nullity (NULLES DE TOUT NULLITE)" this poorBishop's pretensions upon it are. Voltaire expressly piqueshimself on this Piece; [Letter to Priedrich: dateless, datable"soon after 17th September;" which the rash dark Editors have byguess misdated "August; "or, what was safer for them, omitted italtogether. OEuvres de Voltaire (Paris,1818, 40 vols.) gives the Letter, xxxix. 442 (see also ibid. 453,463); later Editors, and even Preuss, take the safer course.]brags also how he settled "M. de Fenelon [French Ambassador at theHague], who came to me the day before yesterday," much out ofsquare upon the Herstal Business, till I pulled him straight.And it is evident (beautifully so, your Majesty) how Voltairebusied himself in the Gazettes and Diplomatic circles, settingFriedrich's case right; Voltaire very loyal to Friedrich and hisLiege Cause at that time;--and the contrast between what hiscontemporary Letters say on the subject, and what his ulteriorPasquil called VIE PRIVEE says, is again great.

The dull stagnant world, shaken awake by this Liege adventure,gives voice variously; and in the Gazetteer and Diplomatic circlesit is much criticised, by no means everywhere in the favorabletone at this first blush of the business. "He had written an ANTI-Machiavel," says the Abbe St. Pierre, and even says Voltaire (inthe PASQUIL, not the contemporary LETTERS), "and he acts thus!"Truly he does, Monsieur de Voltaire; and all men, with light uponthe subject, or even with the reverse upon it, must make theircriticisms. For the rest, Borck's "2,000 arguments" are there;which Borck handles well, with polite calm rigor: by degrees thedust will fall, and facts everywhere be seen for what they are.

As to the high-flying Bishop, finding that hysterics are butwasted on Friedrich and Borck, and produce no effect with their2,000 validities, he flies next to the Kaiser, to the ImperialDiet, in shrill-sounding Latin obtestations, of which we alreadygave a flying snatch: "Your HUMILISSIMUS and FIDELISSIMUSVASSALLUS, and most obsequient Servant, Georgius Ludovicus;meek, modest, and unspeakably in the right: Was ever Member of theHoly Roman Empire so snubbed, and grasped by the windpipe, before?Oh, help him, great Kaiser, bid the iron gripe loosen itself!"[ Helden-Geschichte, ii, 86-116.] The Kaiserdoes so, in heavy Latin rescripts, in German DEHORTATORIUMS morethan one, of a sulky, imperative, and indeed very lofty tenor;"Let Georgius Ludovicus go, foolish rash young Dilection (LIEBDEN,not MAJESTY, we ourselves being the only Majesty), and I willjudge between you; otherwise--!" said the Kaiser, ponderouslyshaking his Olympian wig, and lifting his gilt cane, or sceptre ofmankind, in an Olympian manner. Here are some touches of hissecond sublimest DEHORTATORIUM addressed to Friedrich, in a verycompressed state: [ Helden-Geschichte, ii. 127; a FIRST and milder (ibid. 73).]--

We Karl the Sixth, Kaiser of (TITLES ENOUGH), ... "Consideringthese, in the Holy Roman Reich, almost unheard-of violent Doings(THATLICHKEITEN), which We, in Our Supreme-Judge Office, cannotaltogether justify, nor will endure ... We have the trust that youyourself will magnanimously see How evil counsellors have misledyour Dilection to commence your Reign, not by showing example ofObedience to the Laws appointed for all members of the Reich, forthe weak and for the strong alike, but by such Doings(THATHANDLUNGEN) as in all quarters must cause a great surprise.

"We give your Dilection to know, therefore, That you muststraightway withdraw those troops which have broken into the LiegeTerritory; make speedy restitution of all that has been extorted;--especially General von Borck to give back at once those 50 louisd'or daily drawn by him, to renounce his demand of the 20,000thalers, to make good all damage done, and retire with his wholemilitary force (MILITZ) over the Liege boundaries;--and in brief,that you will, by law or arbitration, manage to agree with thePrince Bishop of Liege, who wishes it very much. These things Weexpect from your Dilection, as Kurfurst of Brandenburg, within thespace of Two Months from the Issuing of this; and remain,"--Yours as you shall demean yourself,--KARL.

"Given at Wien, 4th of October, 1740."--The last Dehortatoriumever signed by Karl VI. In two weeks after he ate too manymushrooms,--and immense results followed!

Dehortatoriums had their interest, at Berlin and elsewhere, forthe Diplomatic circles; but did not produce the least effect onBorck or Friedrich; though Friedrich noted the Kaiser's manner inthese things, and thought privately to himself, as was evident tothe discerning, "What an amount of wig on that old gentleman!"A notable Kaiser's Ambassador, Herr Botta, who had come with someAccession compliments, in these weeks, was treated slightingly byFriedrich; hardly admitted to Audience; and Friedrich's publicreply to the last Dehortatorium had almost something of sarcasm init: Evil counsellors yourself, Most Dread Kaiser! It is you thatare "misled by counsellors, who might chance to set Germany onfire, were others as unwise as they!" Which latter phrase wasremarkable to mankind.--There is a long account already run upbetween that old gentleman, with his Seckendorfs, Grumkows, withhis dull insolencies, wiggeries, and this young gentleman, who hasnearly had his heart broken and his Father's house driven mad bythem! Borck remains at his post; rations duly delivered, and fiftylouis a day for his own private expenses; and there is no answerto the Kaiser, or in sharp brief terms (about "chances of settingGermany on fire"), rather worse than none.

Readers see, as well as Friedrich did, what the upshot of thisaffair must be;--we will now finish it off, and wash our hands ofit, before following his Majesty to Berlin. The poor Bishop hadapplied, shrieking, to the French for help;--and there came somecolloquial passages between Voltaire and Fenelon, if that were aresult. He had shrieked in like manner to the Dutch, but withoutresult of any kind traceable in that quarter: nowhere, except fromthe Kaiser, is so much as a DEHORTATORIUM to be got. Whereupon theonce high-flying, now vainly shrieking Bishop discerns clearlythat there is but one course left,--the course which has lain wideopen for some years past, had not his flight gone too high forseeing it. Before three weeks are over, seeing how Dehortatoriumsgo, he sends his Ambassadors to Berlin, his apologies, proposals:[Ambassadors arrived 28th September; last Dehortatorium not yetout. Business was completed 20th October (Rodenbeck, IN DIEBUS).]"Would not your Majesty perhaps consent to sell this Herstal, asyour Father of glorious memory was pleased to be willing once?"--

Friedrich answers straightway to the effect: "Certainly! Pay methe price it was once already offered for: 100,000 thalers, PLUSthe expenses since incurred. That will be 180,000 thalers, besideswhat you have spent already on General Borck's days' wages.To which we will add thatwretched little fraction of Old Debt,clear as noon, but never paid nor any part of it; 60,000 thalers,due by the See of Liege ever since the Treaty of Utrecht; 60,000,for which we will charge no interest: that will make 240,000thalers,--36,000 pounds, instead of the old sum you might have hadit at. Produce that cash; and take Herstal, and all the dust thathas risen out of it, well home with you." [Stenzel, iv. 60, whocounts in gulden, and is not distinct.] The Bishop thankfullycomplies in all points; negotiation speedily done ("20th Oct." thefinal date): Bishop has not, I think, quite so much cash on hand;but will pay all he has, and 4 per centum interest till the wholebe liquidated. His Ambassadors "get gold snuffboxes;" and returnmildly glad!

And thus, in some six weeks after Borck's arrival in those parts,Borck's function is well done. The noise of Gazettes andDiplomatic circles lays itself again; and Herstal, famous once forKing Pipin, and famous again for King Friedrich, lapses at lengthinto obscurity, which we hope will never end. Hope;--though whocan say? ROUCOUX, quite close upon it, becomes a Battle-ground insome few years; and memorabilities go much at random inthis world!

Chapter VI.

RETURNS BY HANOVER; DOES NOT CALL ON HIS ROYAL UNCLE THERE.

Friedrich spent ten days on his circuitous journey home;considerable inspection to be done, in Minden, Magdeburg, not tospeak of other businesses he had. The old Newspapers are stillmore intent upon him, now that the Herstal Affair has broken intoflame: especially the English Newspapers; who guess that there arepassages of courtship going on between great George their King andhim. Here is one fact, correct in every point, for the old LondonPublic: "Letters from Hanover say, that the King of Prussia passedwithin a small distance of that City the 16th inst. N.S., on hisreturn to Berlin, but did not stop at Herrenhausen;"--about whichthere has been such hoping and speculating among us lately.[ Daily Post, 22d September, 1740;other London Newspapers from July 31st downwards.] A fact whichthe extinct Editor seems to meditate for a day or two; after whichhe says (partly in ITALICS), opening his lips the second time,like a Friar Bacon's Head significant to the Public: "Letters fromHanover tell us that the Interview, which it was said his Majestywas to have with the King of Prussia, did not take place, forcertain PRIVATE REASONS, which our Correspondent leaves us toguess at!"

It is well known Friedrich did not love his little Uncle, then orthenceforth; still less his little Uncle him: "What is thisPrussia, rising alongside of us, higher and higher, as if it wouldreach our own sublime level!" thinks the little Uncle to himself.At present there is no quarrel between them; on the contrary, aswe have seen, there is a mutual capability of helping one another,which both recognize; but will an interview tend to forward thatuseful result? Friedrich, in the intervals of an ague, withHerstal just broken out, may have wisely decided, No. "Our sublimelittle Uncle, of the waxy complexion, with the proudly staringfish-eyes,--no wit in him, not much sense, and a great deal ofpride,--stands dreadfully erect, 'plumb and more,' with theGarter-leg advanced, when one goes to see him; and his remarks arenot of an entertaining nature. Leave him standing there: to himlet Truchsess and Bielfeld suffice, in these hurries, in this aguethat is still upon us." Upon which the dull old Newspapers, Owlsof Minerva that then were, endeavor to draw inferences.The noticeable fact is, Friedrich did, on this occasion, passwithin a mile or two of his royal Uncle, without seeing him;and had not, through life, another opportunity; never saw thesublime little man at all, nor was again so near him.

I believe Friedrich little knows the thick-coming difficulties ofhis Britannic Majesty at this juncture; and is too impatient ofthese laggard procedures on the part of a man with eyes A FLEUR-DE-TETE. Modern readers too have forgotten Jenkins's Ear; it isnot till after long study and survey that one begins to perceivethe anomalous profundities of that phenomenon to the poor EnglishNation and its poor George II.

The English sent off, last year, a scanty Expedition, "six shipsof the line," only six, under Vernon, a fiery Admiral, a littlegiven to be fiery in Parliamentary talk withal; and these didproceed to Porto-Bello on the Spanish Main of South America; didhurl out on Porto-Bello such a fiery destructive deluge, ofgunnery and bayonet-work, as quickly reduced the poor place to theverge of ruin, and forced it to surrender with whatever navy,garrison, goods and resources were in it, to the discretion offiery Vernon,--who does not prove implacable, he or his, to apetitioning enemy. Yes, humble the insolent, but then be mercifulto them, say the admiring Gazetteers. "The actual monster," howcheering to think, "who tore off Mr. Jenkins's Ear, was got holdof [actual monster, or even three or four different monsters whoeach did it, the "hold got" being mythical, as readers see], andnaturally thought he would be slit to ribbons; but our peoplemagnanimously pardoned him, magnanimously flung him aside out ofsight;" [ Gentleman's Magazine, x. 124, 145(date of the Event is 3d December N.S., 1739).] impossible toshoot a dog in cold blood.

Whereupon Vernon returned home triumphant; and there burst forthsuch a jubilation, over the day of small things, as is nowastonishing to think of. Had the Termagant's own Thalamus andTreasury been bombarded suddenly one night by red-hot balls,Madrid City laid in ashes, or Baby Carlos's Apanage extinguishedfrom Creation, there could hardly have been greater English joy(witness the "Porto-Bellos" they still have, new Towns so named);so flamy is the murky element growing on that head. And indeed hadthe cipher of tar-barrels burnt, and of ale-barrels drunk, and thegeneral account of wick and tallow spent in illuminations and in